Getting to Know Countries Within Regions of the World

Now that we have examined what the themes of geography are we will begin an intensive study of countries within regions as outlined in our text, Contemporary World Regional Geography, 2nd Edition.
The countries we will be studying must be in the following regions:

• Europe, Chapter 3
• Russia and Neighboring Countries, Chapter 4
• Southeast Asia and the South Pacific, Chapter 6
• South Asia, Chapter 7
• Northern Africa and Southwestern Asia, Chapter 8
• Africa South of the Sahara, Chapter 9
• Latin America, Chapter 10

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Student Groupings as Per Region

For the next several weeks you and your group members will work together to create presentations for one to two nations in your region. First, though, you will focus on a region. You group members will be assigned. They are the following.

Block B

	Region		Members	Wikispace	Group
	Europe, Chapter 3		Harin, Hee Jae	Europe Chpt. 3 HJHL	4
	Russia and Neighboring Countries, Chapter 4		Olivia, Jason, You Jin	Russia and Neighboring Countries JOY	6
	Southeast Asia and the South Pacific, Chapter 6		Ryan, Jee Min, Jae Ho	Southeast Asia and the South Pacific, Chapter 6 JJR	7
	South Asia, Chapter 7		Priscilla, Dennis, D.K.	South Asia; Chapter 7 PDD	8
	Northern Africa and Southwestern Asia, Chapter 8		Deborah, Hyun, Jane	N.Africa and SW. Asia DHJ	9
	Africa South of the Sahara, Chapter 9		Soo, Hyun Woo, Dong Myung	Africa(South of Sahara) SHD	10
	Latin America, Chapter 10		Hae-Inn (Britney), Nick, Terry	Latin America, Terrickney	3

Block E

Regions		Members	Wikispace	Group
Europe, Chapter 3		Billy, Justin	Europe, Chap 3 BPJL	4
Russia and Neighboring Countries, Chapter 4		Hyun Woo, So Yon	Russia NC SJ HW	6
Southeast Asia and the South Pacific, Chapter 6		Ashley, Jae	SOUTHEAST ASIA	7
South Asia, Chapter 7		Kaila, Soo Jin	South Asia, Chapter 7	8
Northern Africa and Southwestern Asia, Chapter 8		Sang Woo, Jaeook	N Africa S Asia SWJ	9
Africa South of the Sahara, Chapter 9		Ho Joon, Bo, Steve	Africa South of the Sahara HJBS	10
Latin America, Chapter 10		Jenny, Flora, Se June	Latin America JFS	3

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First Task:

• Create a wikispace for your region. That wikispace will have:
  • A title (include the members' first names)
  • A map of the region (identify the source)
  • A current event link page for the region. That is, a link to at least two sources of news for the region.
  • An issues link. This means, you should learn what sort of issues are prevalent to the region, or nations in them, i.e. pollution, terrorism etc. Thus, you have already identified what is important from the news/current events that you are learning about the region from the sources you have mentioned.
  • A link to each of the Five Themes of Geography for the region.
  • Set up a link to a person(s) to learn more about their region (country within it?). This is the tough one, but I am sure that you will be able to do it. I mean, why have a computer if we're not using them for something like this, right? Anyway, it's got to be done.
  • (Consider setting up a blog for students to drop in for comments and for the sharing of ideas, feelings about what you're doing and learning.)
• Time sequence to complete the above is one week. This is a collaborative project and a lot of class time will be dedicated to it. You should begin by sharing your concerns about this task with your partner(s). What sorts of problems, challenges will there be in completing it? How will you communicate? How will the work be broken up?
• Grading (must be opened using Firefox):
  

  index.php
  

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Second Task

• Walk the class through your wikispace.
• Discuss the physical geography of the region. While you are doing this students will be filling in maps with notations on the following:
  • Landforms, i.e. mountain ranges, plateaus, deserts, prairies, volcanoes, steppes etc.
  • Major rivers of the region. Be sure to identify the source for those rivers.
  • Where appropriate major islands and island chains.
  • Type of climate of the region. Be sure to be able to talk about such things as monsoons, typhoons, hurricanes (these are both really the same thing just different oceans have them), cyclones, and tornadoes.
  • What type of vegetation would one see in that region. As well, note indigenous species of animal unique to the region.
• Discuss the human geographical features of the region:
  • Pay attention to architecture, both traditional and modern.
  • Languages spoken.
  • Religions practiced.
  • Ethnic groups, etc.
  • Major cities.
• Be sure to introduce the class to your person of interest in the region.
  • If possible do a live feed. That would be great.
  • A brief biography of the person and specifically where they live in the region.

Third Task

• Comment (as a group) on the discussion tab on the homepage of one other group. Be constructive in your comments on how the wikispace could be improved.

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